


Countdown

by soldiergame



Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, Soulmate AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-22 15:44:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13170054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soldiergame/pseuds/soldiergame
Summary: When he’s thirteen, Ten breaks his soulmate clock.





	Countdown

_Soulmate clocks are a set of indiscriminate, clock-like markings a person is born with, counting down from the moment you were born till you meet your soulmate, an elegant scripture of numbers (years, months, days) running along the edges of the clock._

_These clocks can be broken, through the simplest of means. All one has to do is to destroy the clock’s face, to mar the intricate markings until they can no longer be read. That is all it takes to deny the existence of one’s soulmate._

_There are those who do not want the distraction of chasing after a soulmate. There are those who fear that their soulmate might not reciprocate their feelings. Then, there are those whose clocks have stopped moving altogether, the frozen numbers making the fate of their partners all too clear. Either way, many a person has chosen not to believe in things such as ‘soulmates’._  

 

* * *

 

Ten is thirteen when he breaks his soulmate clock. The same night, he leaves the Nanase household in the cover of darkness, one hand gingerly fidgeting with the bandages that are wrapped firmly around his arm, the stinging pain of the cuts still fresh in his mind.

Fleetingly, he wonders if soulmates could share their thoughts, wonders if his soulmate had felt the sharp bursts of pain that accompanied each shallow scratch, and the stinging of the alcohol that followed after, or the sudden numbing realisation as he released his hold on the tatters of a childish dream.

_(“I want to meet my soulmate one day,” Riku said wistfully as Ten nodded in agreement, “I’m sure you will, Riku, but I’ll have to interrogate them thoroughly first.” “Ten-nii!”)_

The marking can be concealed, Kujou had said, there is no need for such distractions.

After a while, he forgets about soulmates and destiny, instead busying himself with practice after practice - there would be no point to this if he could not even deliver a less than perfect performance, after all.

 

* * *

 

At age seventeen, Ten slips into a classy bar in Shibuya, fully intent on meeting his two new unit mates without any external interference. Offhandedly, his thoughts drift to the markings that spiral down his hands, the surface of his clock broken, with three horizontal scratches running through it. The swirling markings are still there, but his clock will never display the countdown again. Somehow, he is fine with that, even if it meant giving up the dream he and Riku had.

There were far more important things to focus on now.

With that, he exhales, schooling his face into a more professional expression, and awaits the arrival of his new unit members.   


* * *

 

_What most people do not know, is that even though soulmate clocks can be broken, the connection between the two people is not severed. They will still be unknowingly drawn towards each other - an inevitable outcome, but what they decide to do with their connection, without the additional information about who their soulmate is, is entirely up to them._

 

* * *

 

Gaku turns to observe the newcomer, and nearly drops his glass because his arm is tingling, a warm sensation spreading from his shoulders to his elbows and-

Oh.  

The youth standing before him is a tad shorter than him, a lithe figure swathed in an ethereal aura, giving him an otherworldly appearance. His face is soft and innocent, _like an angel_ , his mind helpfully supplies.

Softly, so as not to break the illusion, he speaks.

“Are you Kujou Ten?”

Inwardly, he curses at his poor choice of wording, he opens his mouth to say something else, but Ten speaks, and his words stun Gaku and Ryuu into silence.

He was definitely not prepared for the smile, cold as ice, or the snarky retort that was directed at him, or the fire that suddenly blazes through his veins as he shoots back a heated response. Vaguely, he realises that arguing with him was definitely not making a good impression, but something about the youth makes his blood boil.

Later, as they exit the bar, both of them having come to terms with the other, he rolls up the sleeve of his shirt, and the series of zeroes on his clock tell him everything.

Kujou Ten is his soulmate.

 

* * *

 

There is no reason for this attachment, Ten tells himself. He had destroyed his soulmate clock five years ago, telling himself that he had no need for a soulmate when his sole purpose was to make sure that Riku was safe.

If breaking his own soulmate clock was to be the price of that, he would gladly break it a thousand times.

So, how did that explain the gut-wrenching feeling that fills him when Gaku pulls up his sleeve to reveal his soulmate clock, fully intact,

“Who’s the lucky girl?” he asks, thumb swiping across the intricate string of zeroes on Gaku’s arm, and trying not to sound too put out. (Strange, he muses, such behaviour was unlike him.)

Silence greets him, before Gaku takes a deep breath to calm his nerves.

“I met them a year ago, at a bar in Shibuya.”

When Ten remains silent, the other man continues, “They were beautiful, like an angel, at least that was my first thought,” he snickers, “Then they opened their mouth and I realised that they were a little devil in disguise.”

Ten shifts slightly, surely he knows who Gaku was talking about.

“We argue a lot, and we don’t see eye to eye, but they’re a good person, and I respect them a lot...”

At this, the youth turns away, and he feels a surge of panic rising.  

“Oi, Ten…” he tries, but the other would not meet his eyes. Concerned, he tries again, but stops when he spots it.

A pale, red flush, spreading from the tips of his ears and down his neck.

“Are you blushing?”

“Shut up!”

 

* * *

 

They’re soulmates, two people drawn to each other by the strings of fate, one broken clock meshing perfectly with an intact one.

And Ten is fine with that.

**Author's Note:**

> written for idolish7 secret santa 2016


End file.
